2010-12-26, 02:47 | Link #441 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
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The problem with ep 12 is that it brings closure to nothing that already hasn't been confirmed. Kouhei was fine with Erika's bloodlust since the fireworks, but Erika wasn't okay with it. Then, when Kouhei says the same thing about how he's fine with giving his blood to her, all of a sudden she approves?
I'm not asking for the anime to match the game ending, since the anime made some promising plot points on its own. Kaya's cold attitude towards Kiriha, treating her like a tool, could have served as a foil, or a contrast for Erika and Kouhei's relationship. While Kaya and Kiriha are like puppeteer and puppet, Kouhei could have become Erika's servant while still having an equal relationship with her. That way, Erika and Kouhei could still be a vampire and her servant, but their equal relationship would still differ from what Kaya truly wanted. Yet, for some reason Erika and Kouhei's relationship never deepened, even in the finale. We all knows they have a thing for one another, and the past episodes made an effort of building up their relationship, so why didn't anything come out of it? |
2010-12-26, 12:22 | Link #442 |
Banned
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LOL, yeah sure At best an OVA, though even that is highly unlikely.
So this ones joins the list of burned adaptions? I really liked the character designs, but maybe studios should get an example from other shows on how to handle the source material. In the end I think it's a waste to use eroge for 1-cour TV anime, which have a lot more story to work with than date-sim ... compare (Amagami with Yosuga no Sora). This one tried to appeal to a larger audience, and as consequence butchered a very interesting story for juvenile romance an corny drama. |
2010-12-26, 13:27 | Link #444 |
Yoku dekimashita!
Join Date: Jun 2006
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http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl...anime&aid=7579
The description say "is bundled with volume 6 of the manga" so maybe is unrelated to the tv serie and will be a standalone episode like Princess Resurrection. Last edited by Fnights; 2010-12-26 at 13:43. |
2010-12-26, 23:46 | Link #445 |
turn around...
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Lalalalala world
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Overall it was rather boring. I wouldn't call it the worst but it's certainly not the best. I'm not sure if Kouhei (game) is as uninteresting as Kouhei (anime), but in anime he was definitely disappointing as a lead. I have nothing against an average guy (I prefer them more, actually ): ) but just... ahhhh. Even OnoD's voice that I usually love didn't feel like it fit Kouhei at all.
It would've been better if they cut down on all the prepare for XXX, XXX event, bla bla and got to the main part sooner. If they were trying to emphasize friendship... then how unfortunate that it didn't leave a great impression :/ Thankfully the voice acting was superb and ED was one of the best of the year. As for characters, I found Sendou Iori and Yuuki Kanade a great joy and without them, I don't think I would've continued this series.
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2010-12-27, 06:10 | Link #446 | |
Kissing...
Join Date: Dec 2005
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Anyway, this series is done, so let's wait for the next season's.
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2010-12-27, 08:18 | Link #447 | |
Banned
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2010-12-31, 12:04 | Link #448 |
今宵の虎徹は血に飢えている
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Ok...just watched the final ep.....what to say.....I was thinking they'd do something similar to Erika's ending, what with it being clear that the true end won't be touched on but instead it ended with something rather less climatic. Like the overall pace of the whole show really. Plus at the end, there were still plenty of loose ends left to be tied up true end not withstanding. Kiriha and Kaya's relationship, the Tougi family and their ties with the vampires....
I wouldn't call it crappy or anything; it was a nice story if you consider it as a stand alone but thing is, it doesn't do justice to the original game. That's about the biggest problem really.
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2011-01-02, 00:22 | Link #449 |
Twintails are wintails!
Join Date: Mar 2010
Age: 43
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I've watched the final episode now and thought I'd post at least some final thoughts here.
On the whole, I can say: I am disappoint I haven't played the game, but the chara designs looked very good, so I decided to take a look. Being about vampires sounded like an interesting bonus. Now what did I actually get? First two thirds were pretty much only slice-of-life. Not that that's a bad thing, but while it had had some good moments, it was rather bland and colourless on the whole. It didn't even have any noteable fanservice to at least try to make up for this and was very, very tame on the whole - which I found rather strange, as it's supposed to be a conversion from an ero-game. Thus, also very bland from that point of view. Also, it felt as if the creators were saying: "So you expected vampires? You're not getting any! Bi-daaa! " Sometimes I even had to drag me a bit to watch the next episode. Last third was finally more interesting, with the vampire theme finally coming into play. Still not that super-interesting that I would say, "Oh noes! I can't wait for the next episode!", but certainly better than before. The biggest flaw is: there is no real ending or conclusion The last episode left a lot of open questions, which is especially nasty for people who haven't played the game like me What's so special about Kouhei now? They always mentioned that he's oh-so-special, but never said why Erika's mother stayed a very flat character. You didn't get anything to know about her motivations, why she does the things she does. It didn't resolve anything either. Erika's need for blood is still the same as before. Donator blood doesn't do anything for her anymore - this was mentioned, and she tried it herself without success. She'll have to drink Kouhei's blood from now on, and the next time she does that, she'll pass the point of no return, as was mentioned. There's thus no way around Erika taking Kouhai as Dependant. As Erika doesn't come off as stupid, I'm pretty sure she realised that already, and only obstinately continues to refuse it just to oppose her mother. Also here, it isn't mentioned why Erika is on such really bad terms with her mother. Furthermore, for Kouhei becoming Erika's dependant, shouldn't they become girlfriend and boyfriend first? Their friendship is still rather loose, e.g. with Kouhei calling her "Vice President" rather than "Erika-chan" and things like that. The final episode pretty much seemed like a "This was just the prelude, now the actual story starts" sort of thing. I really doubt however this will get a second season. The echo here (from reading the last three pages) wasn't very positive, and the rating on AniDB is quite low. Even if there actually was a second season, I don't know if I would watch it. If it's just like first season, probably rather not. It wasn't as much of a let-down as Shukufuku no Campanella, at least. As already mentioned, it had some nice moments and pretty good chara-designs, so I'll still give it a 7/10, but if the game is really as good as others here say, they could've made a much better conversion, with an actual ending to boot which doesn't leave all sorts of questions open and resolves the problems.
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2011-02-05, 20:10 | Link #450 |
Banned
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REVIEW TIME
Goodness gracious, yet another porn game turned to anime. Let’s hope they kept all the sex scenes in… What? Not a single one? How lame! Ok, maybe they kept the entire story in, or at least a full route of it… Again not even one? How about covering the story or developing the characters? … Nope, not even that. This is nothing but a cocktease to get the game. A bad one too as it’s COMPLETELY BORING! I mean, surely, what kind of appeal does such a series have today? It is practically 12 episodes of nothing going on other than really vague innuendos around romance and vampires… Oh, I forgot to mention that, didn’t I? Yes, it has vampires; the reason I neglected this element is because NOTHING HAPPENS IN THIS SHOW! So we have this prestige school where the protagonist transfers to, and he gets to meet a lot of pretty chicks and find again his childhood friends (in the most kitsch premise for romance / porn). Most girls with a voice seem to be fond of him for no particular reason and the entire school thinks he is some sort of a pervert because he keeps being in the wrong time at the wrong nude lolis … err, I mean place. Also, here there be vampires, drinking blood and hiding amongst the students, with sunlight and crosses doing jack. The lead keeps going to various places with pretty chicks, talking with them, inviting them in his place, meeting with vampires, trying to get his feelings straight about a certain individual and … hm, there is no and; that’s all of it. A plot that could fit in just two episodes was stretched to last 6 times as much and still nothing interesting happened. And by interesting I mean: -Sex -Romantic kisses -Vampire slaying -Sex -Romantic polyhedrons -Anything other than boring everyday activities -Did I mention sex? Boy, this was easily one of the most plotless shows in recent memory. I mean, even most harems and ecchies seem to have more plot and character development than this one (believe it or not). So I literally say there is no story and give it the ace. It’s not aimless like Lucky Star type of show either; there is a possible romance going on here and there are these vampire students drinking blood… and let’s not forget the sex part. But as I said, nothing happens. For the same thing, the characters never go beyond the first impression you get from them when you meet them. They are all based on moe stereotypes with hardly and special delving done to them (both metaphorically and literally). Although you get to see them doing their stereotypical activities and understand them for what they are, that still won’t make them anything other than archetypes with absolutely nothing extra to define them as characters worth remembering. I give the cast a 3 for at least showing a lot of how archetypical they all are without ever feeling out of character. The art is by far the best part in the entire show, as the character figures are super moe that never look badly drawn. The colors and the backgrounds are also very well drawn, giving the needed fluff of the atmosphere in the prestige school. The lighting and darkness are also played right when they need to show cheery moments at day or pseudo-scary ones at night. So minus some frozen panels and a few stiff motions, the art is almost perfect and I give it a 9. Just don’t expect anything special or original in terms of textures of presentation because you won’t find any. It is just showing generic stuff in the most beautiful way possible. Sound is a huge contrast as it’s mostly average (6). The soundtracks are run of the mil pop songs and voice acting, although lively, lacks any sort of excitement in terms of dialogues or interesting context. Value and enjoyment don’t exist (1). For all I care this anime is even less than a generic harem and has no reason of existing. So to all anime producers out there COULD YOU PLEASE STOP IT? If you so much want to make a harem with a twist, at least SHOW IT or take a few risks and try to play with the formula a bit. This show was so typical to the point there is no reason to watch / buy / keep it in the first place. And it’s a shame such good visuals (and the money to animate them) went to waste in this show everybody will forget in less than a year. Score: 3.5 / 10 |
2011-02-08, 16:04 | Link #451 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Now I'm after the true end and of course kiriha's end |
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2011-12-12, 09:29 | Link #457 | |
Lost in my dreams...
Join Date: Jun 2006
Age: 37
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The issue wasn't even tackled directly, nor was it brought up by the characters or even the supposed couple in question, so I certainly don't consider it conclusive. I don't see how it can be, unless you consider "conclusive" as being able to figure out whom the male most likely has romantic feelings for, which renders the notion pretty moot. If anything it's the opposite, as no conclusion was ever reached ... the topic wasn't even engaged by the show in the first place! It was a possibility that floated in the peripheral vision but never materialized. Rather than being conclusive, it pretty much never even happened. So ... yeah. FA can't really be considered as having a conclusive romance, and more specifically (which is what the point was about) - a male lead that actually took initiative on matters romance related. The male lead can't be possibly considered as decisive on the romance front if romance never happened
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2011-12-12, 10:03 | Link #458 | |
Carpe Diem
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: ||At the edge of finality.||
Age: 34
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I hate touch screens, so now I am typing with a keyboard on a 4.2" screen... this will be fun. Pardon any mistakes.
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The romance plot certainly wasn't in your face nor was it really the driving point of the show as that seemed to be more about friendship (budding or remembered) between our characters, at least for the first two-thirds, but when the final arc rolled around it felt like the issue was moved beyond simple friendship. So back to the original point, it wasn't *here I am* in your face style but it was still male+female well before the end with the male taking initiative. All that or my memory has been so corroded by everything else, that I made up a different show in my mind from the one I watched.
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2011-12-12, 10:26 | Link #459 |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
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The thing about this show is that it took a story where romance was a central element and sort of watered it down to the point where all we had was suggestion, symbolism, and metaphor. I actually liked a lot of the symbolism at play here, and the way they developed the relationship between Erika and Kouhei was very nice... but the show stubbornly refused to go all the way with it. I simply don't understand why. The whole show basically comes across as a giant tease in this regard, as all the elements for a romantic relationship are there, but they deliberately held it back so anything concrete has to happen in our imaginations. Essentially, it's all very romantic as long as we are willing to believe that romance is the inevitable destination, but it was done in such a way that -- in fact -- Kouhei could still decide he just sees her as a close friend. And compared to the game where -- guess what -- they consummated their relationship in every sense... it's a bit of a head-scratcher.
Spoiler for Comparison to Mashiro-iro Symphony:
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2011-12-12, 11:03 | Link #460 | |
Lost in my dreams...
Join Date: Jun 2006
Age: 37
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It's still very much beating around the bush (if he was indeed in love with her ... we speculate that he was, but we can't know for sure. That alone speaks volumes about how conclusive the deal was ). Since this spawned from Mashifoni thread, that would be comparable to Spoiler for MashiFoni, episode 10:
Then we could all speculate on the likely meaning behind his words and the probable implication, but the possibility of there being dual meaning behind them would still be there. Which is the very opposite of "conclusive", unless the show itself takes steps down the road to clarify his meaning. Which is the exact situation we have in Fortune Arterial, but the show never took any additional steps to clarify, so we are left with this highly-probable-but-not-100%-certain implication. Implication - the very word that describes the depth of FA's "romance". Some things were implied, we drew conclusions from said implications, but the show never offered confirmation one way or another. Kyouhei never offered confirmation one way or another. It's all elaborate guesswork, and no matter how much we think our guesses are the right ones, there is no actual way to confirm them. Something that is ultimately guesswork and interpretation can't possibly be conclusive, the two are pretty much mutually exclusive. Hence the point why Fortune Arterial can't be considered a show that has a male lead who was the driving force of the romance front - since the state of this romance front is arguable in the first place. And even if we assume that our interpretations are correct, Kyouhei never said, did, or even thought about it in a straight-forward and unquestionable fashion that we would be aware of. He never made his intentions, assuming he indeed had intentions beyond what the show presented, clear. So ... yeah, the show pretty much left us hanging with implications and subtexts, but no concrete destination for all of it. A point of many frustrations (among many others) for those of us who played the VN and had to watch the show going about its roundabout ways. Aaaargh, why did I have to be reminded of this show, now I am once again frustrated about them taking one of my favorite VNs and turning it in to this ... thing ... during it's transformation to anime format!
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comedy, drama, eroge, romance, school life, seinen, vampire |
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